CFL Draft Set for April 28 With Ottawa on the Clock for First Overall Pick

The Canadian Football League's 2026 national draft is set for Tuesday, April 28, with the Ottawa Redblacks holding the first overall pick after finishing at the bottom of the standings in 2025. The eight-round draft will produce 74 selections from a pool of Canadian university players and Canadians playing south of the border in the NCAA and NAIA, setting the foundation for next season's rosters.

The Redblacks' position at the top of the draft is the result of a difficult 2025 that ended with the league's worst record. The club has used the off-season to begin a deeper rebuild, and the first overall pick is the cornerstone of that strategy. The remaining picks across the eight rounds will reshape rosters across the nine-team league as teams stockpile Canadian talent for the upcoming season.

How the draft works

The CFL draft is restricted to players who qualify as Canadian under league rules, which include both Canadian-trained university players and Canadians who have spent their careers in the United States college system. The eight-round structure gives every team one selection per round, with picks awarded in reverse order of the previous season's standings.

The first two rounds will be broadcast on TSN and TSN+, with the rest of the draft airing exclusively on TSN+. The broadcast format mirrors what the league has been building toward in recent years, with significant attention paid to the top picks and the storylines surrounding the most highly rated prospects.

The draft is one of the most important talent-acquisition events in Canadian football. The CFL's import-rules require teams to dress a minimum number of Canadians on every roster, including starters at key positions, and high-quality Canadian players are among the most valuable commodities in league management.

The headline prospect

Akheem Mesidor is widely considered the top prospect in the draft, but his actual position when selected may not be at the top of the CFL list. The defensive lineman is one of the most-watched Canadian players in this year's NFL draft and could become just the fifth Canadian ever to be selected on the opening night of the NFL's three-day event. If that happens, his CFL rights will be retained but his playing career will start south of the border.

That uncertainty has reshaped the calculus for CFL teams at the top of the draft. The Ottawa Redblacks could choose to take Mesidor with the first overall pick, knowing that even if he plays in the NFL initially, his rights remain a valuable asset that could pay off years later. Alternatively, the team could turn to a prospect more likely to be available in the immediate term.

The deep field at the top of the draft includes a number of other highly rated prospects. A defensive tackle named Konga is among them, and his combine performance in the broad jump and three-cone drill produced some of the best results recorded in recent league history. Konga's combination of power and athletic profile makes him one of the most intriguing prospects in the class.

The receiver class

The receiver group has been led by a player named DeMontagnac, who has positioned himself at the top of the rankings at his position. He is a six-foot-two, 188-pound slot receiver described by scouts as a smooth route-runner with deceptive top-end speed, and the kind of player who projects as a CFL starter in his first or second professional season.

Receiver depth has been a particular focus of CFL teams in recent drafts as the league's offensive style has continued to evolve. Canadian receivers are essential to roster construction because the import rules require Canadian starters in the receiver corps for many teams, and the depth of the position class will determine how rosters are built across the league.

Teams looking to upgrade their Canadian receiver depth will likely move aggressively in the second and third rounds, with several scouts predicting that some of the better Canadian receivers will be selected earlier than their pre-draft rankings suggest. The position has been one of the most-discussed in pre-draft analysis.

The defensive line storyline

The defensive line class has been the deepest position group in the draft, and CFL teams are expected to use a significant share of their early picks on linemen. The CFL's ratio rules and the importance of defensive line depth have made the position a perennial focus, and this year's class includes several prospects with clear paths to immediate playing time.

3DownNation, the CFL-focused outlet that has tracked the position rankings throughout the spring, has highlighted Konga among the top of the defensive tackle list. Other prospects with NCAA experience are expected to be selected in the first three rounds, giving multiple teams an opportunity to upgrade their fronts before the start of training camp.

Teams in particular need at the position, including some of the league's mid-tier franchises, will likely target the deepest part of the class to find rotational players who can contribute immediately. The investment in defensive line talent reflects the importance of the position to the modern CFL game.

The mock draft conversation

CFL.ca and several independent analysts have published mock drafts in the run-up to Tuesday's selection. The consensus first-overall projection has Ottawa taking either Mesidor, accepting the NFL risk in return for the long-term upside, or moving to a more immediately available prospect.

John Hodge of 3DownNation released his second mock draft in mid-April, offering one of the more detailed projections of the entire first round. The mock highlighted several intriguing positional combinations and noted the difficulty of predicting where NCAA-trained Canadian players will be selected.

Beyond the first round, the mock-draft conversation has focused on the depth of the offensive and defensive line classes and the questions facing teams about which positions to prioritise. Some teams have made roster moves in the run-up to the draft that suggest specific positional priorities, and the mock drafts have tried to read those signals.

The global draft

The CFL's separate global draft is scheduled for the day after the national draft, on April 29, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. The two-round event will produce 18 selections of non-Canadian, non-NCAA international players, with each franchise having one pick per round.

The global draft has emerged in recent years as a meaningful talent pipeline. Players who have come through the global draft have made impacts on multiple CFL rosters, particularly at specialty positions, and the league has invested in the format as part of a broader effort to diversify the talent pool.

The combination of the national and global drafts gives every CFL team several new players to integrate into their rosters before training camps open later in the spring. The two events together represent the most concentrated talent-acquisition window of the league's calendar.

What it means for the league

The draft is taking place at a pivotal moment for the CFL. The league has been working on a number of initiatives to grow its audience, including expanded broadcast partnerships, schedule adjustments and revenue-sharing changes that will affect roster construction. Talent acquisition through the draft is the foundation that supports those broader strategic goals.

For fans, the draft is a chance to imagine how new players will fit into existing rosters. Several CFL franchises have struggled in recent years, and the introduction of new talent is one of the few mechanisms available to genuinely change a team's trajectory. The Ottawa Redblacks, in particular, are entering the draft as one of the storylines that will define the league's narrative through the summer.

What's next

The first round of the draft begins on TSN at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, with subsequent rounds following throughout the evening. The global draft will follow on Wednesday afternoon. CFL training camps open in late May, giving teams about a month to integrate their selections before the season begins in June.

The 2026 CFL season starts in early June. By that time, the draft narratives will have given way to camp battles and starting-lineup decisions, but Tuesday's selections will shape rosters for years to come. For Ottawa, the first overall pick is one of the most consequential decisions the franchise will make in the coming decade, and the league as a whole is watching closely to see how the Redblacks use it.